ICYMI: May 2023

Stock art image of a rocky outcropping at one side of a blue lagoon or coastline
Image courtesy of depositphotos.com

I mentioned to my daughter yesterday that the past school year really hurtled past. The same could be said for my work year, because I would swear that entire weeks of the calendar vanished. I definitely didn’t get done any of the things on my Big Plans List, but I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat right now.

Here’s what happened in May:

Hooked Series Audiobooks

Audiobook cover for mermaid paranormal romance novel Wish Out of Water by Holley Trent features an embracing couple in crashing waves. The woman has a mermaid tail.audiobook cover of Holley Trent's Hooked mermaid series novel Water Under the Bridge features a brown-skinned couple submerged in the sea with an abandoned city in the background. The man has long hair and a golden-scaled tail.

Thanks to the good folks at Bryant Street Publishing, both existing Hooked novels now have audiobook editions!

At the moment, they’re exclusively available to listen to Scribd subscription holders, though that’ll likely change in the near future. Just keep your eyes peeled when you’re perusing your favorite audiobook retailer and library sites.

Other of my Bryant Street audiobooks like Lowdown Dirty and The Viking Queen’s Men are already turning up at places like Apple Books, so it’s really just a matter of time. (I will eventually get around to collecting and posting all those links, so keep checking my audiobook page, too, if you’ve been waiting for certain titles.)

Summer Discounts on Backlist Stories

Can I be honest? Sometimes, there’s no rhyme or reason to how I run sales. I’ll sometimes squint at a series page and try to remember the last time I told folks about it, or I’ll count stories in a collection and think, “That’s a lot of books.”

You can anticipate a lot of deals happening on my books throughout the summer simply because I won’t be around as much to mess with them.

Here are some longer-term deals you can hop on, but definitely peek again in June to see if I’ve added anything. My focus this go-round was heavily paranormal.

The Jekh Saga

Jekh Saga books 1-3
All seven existing novels in my near-future space saga are discounted to 99¢ US through July 31st. The books 1-3 bundle is discounted to $2.49.

This series is currently exclusive to Amazon.

Wish Out of Water

Wish out of Water cover with artwork by Fiona Jayde. There's a brown-skinned mermaid held in a clinch in shallow water by a shirtless man.
The lead novel in my country-fried mermaid series is discounted to 99¢ US through August 7th at all ebook retailers.

A Demon in Waiting

Cover of A Demon in Waiting by Holley Trent
The first story in the massive Mortonville to Maria continuity is heavily discounted through 9/22.

The ebook will be available as a free download at all ebook retailers. It may not immediately be listed as free at Amazon in your region, but the price-match system should (hopefully) eventually catch it up.

Saving Soren

Saving Soren Shrew & Company Book 7
Another freebie! (Same price-match deal applies as above.)

I know it’s unusual to put the last book in series on sale this way, but I actually do have some logic for this one. I’d really love for readers to meet the heroine Marcella, who happens to be a water creature of a different sort.

Obviously, this book spoils every single series plot, but if you’re the highly anxious sort who needs to peek at ends anyway to be sure everything turns out okay: this should appeal to you.

I don’t know if you recall, but Shrew & Company was my very first paranormal series. It’s chaotic as hell, and I definitely leaned into my “soap operas were my childhood babysitter” story telling style, but it holds a tremendously large place in my fiction writer heart.

Viking’s Pride

Ebook cover of Holley Trent's Viking's Pride
Here’s one to collect from The Afótama Legacy. Viking’s Pride is the third story in the series, but because it was a novella written for a multi-author bundle, it stands alone pretty well.

The story’s all about what happens when a guy finally notices his childhood girl-next-door. Plus some psychic modern Viking things. (See what I mean here.)

It’s free everywhere through the summer, but watch the pricing on Amazon and check to make sure it’s been matched to $0 in your region.

The Angel’s Fire

Cover image of The Angel's Fire
This one isn’t last-in-series, but pretty close. Masters of Maria is an unusual series, though, in that it has a twining of several background plots and family groups. Yes, The Angel’s Fire is going to spoil all of the Maria-set stories that come before it, as well as some little intrigues in Desert Guards and Sons of Gulielmus, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide if you want to read it now or save it for a future glom.

Honestly, I picked this one to discount now because I was re-listening to the Wakanda Forever soundtrack last week and I caught a vibe.

This story features a semi-repentant fallen angel and a Mesoamerican deity tormenting each other across three-plus centuries.

It’ll be listed as free at all ebook retailers, but again: beware of the Kindle one-click. Check to see if it’s been price-matched there.

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Last month’s post.

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